New Submissions, and Some Fresh Starts.

This month is flying by . . . I have received a few rejection letters, and I've also realized that when the rejection letters come in one at a time, I don't realize how many I've let pile up. 

I try to keep my submittable submissions to at least 48 submissions, but I had less than 35 in there today. I spend most of my day today pulling together submission packets and sending my work back out. I think I put 13-15 packets out into the world today, so that's quite an accomplishment! 

I finished up two altered books from 2021--one that's of a typical size with 20+ spreads in it, and a smaller, gift book. Those smaller ones have become my favorite books to work in, to be honest.

I have the collage work done in my first book of 2022, as well. It's a bigger dimension--probably 8" by 10", but there are only 10-12 spreads in the book. This being a holiday weekend, I plan to spend some time on found poetry in the new book, but probably not until tomorrow. 

It's President's Day weekend, and I finished last week's grading and meetings by 2:00 pm on Friday, AND I told students that I wouldn't be online tomorrow on the actual bank holiday, so it's been a nice break--a break I don't always get between Weeks 7 and 8 in the school term. 

So, I'm glad to have my submissions caught up, and I've done a little housework and laundry is caught up, so a little loafing on the sofa tonight might happen. My knee is still doing well, but it gets grouchy and sore if I sleep on it wrong or leave it in the same position for too long. 

My goals for March are already being put in place . . . I received some bloodwork that shows my cholesterol is out of control, and I am sure that I've just replaced booze with refined sugar in my diet over the last 18 months. I'm going to work really hard on getting more activity into my life and on cutting sugar and cholesterol. I joined Noom a few days ago, and I'm hoping it will also help me to get my health prioritized. Their app says that I could easily get to 175 lbs by October, so I'm really hoping I can put the effort into it this spring and summer. It's so beautiful here in the warmer months, and I need to get myself motivated to take advantage of that. I figure if I see March 1 as my start date, I can work to have better grocery choices and a new pair of hiking shoes in place by then . . . I'd like to also start walking the neighborhood a few days a week, or the campus. Giving myself until after my birthday on the 27th, and the anniversary of Turtles's death on the 26th, seems more like kindness than procrastination to me. 

I've also made a big step by cutting smoking concentrate and flower out of my life. So, I haven't smoked anything but a vape pen since mid-December. I still use it daily, but I think it's less frequently, and I'm certain it's healthier than a pipe. I feel that I've lost some brain fog--and really, it feels to me that it was a similar brain fog to what I experienced while drinking. I'm hopeful that those steps will help me foundationally as I start to tackle my diet.

What I need to also start doing is drafting more new poems, but man. That's eluding me lately. My attention span is not letting me get much done. I know it's still a pandemic, but I've got to find a way to force an hour a day, maybe? I need rules--like, for example, working on submissions doesn't count. 

I'm hoping I'll already have a good start on better eating habits by the time I leave for Philly in late March. I would love to be able to stay in a hotel without a suitcase full of junk food to pass the time. I think I made a good call by picking an old-school hotel, because there are no fridges in the rooms.

Anyhow. As usual, this entry is all over the place. : ) But--two blog posts in February! After taking a few months off, that's an improvement.